From "White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, 27, Addresses Her 'Atypical' 32-Year Age Gap with Husband/Leavitt tied the knot with husband Nicholas Riccio, 59, in January 2025 after welcoming son Niko in 2024" (People). Niko was born on July 10th. Baby (and wedding) pics at the link.
Leavitt: "The president was begging the question that I think a lot of journalists in this room should be asking about whether or not not the former President of the United States — who I think we can all finally agree was cognitively impaired — I know it took people some time to finally admit that but, we all know that to be true, as evidenced by his disastrous debate performance against President Trump during the campaign — I digress on that — but the President was raising the point that: Did the President even know about these pardons? Was his legal signature used without his consent or knowledge?And that's not just the president or me raising those questions, Kaitlan. According to the New York Post, there are Biden officials from the previous White House who raised those questions and wondered if the President was even consulted about his legally binding signature being signed onto documents. And so I think it's a question that everybody in this room should be looking into, because certainly that would propose perhaps criminal or illegal behavior if staff members were signing the President of the United States' autograph without his consent.Kaitlan Collins: President Biden is on the record talking about issuing preemptive pardons to these people.Leavitt: But was he aware of his signature being used on every single pardon that's a question you should ask the Biden White House?Collins: Do you have any evidence on that that he wasn't aware of it?Leavitt: You're a reporter. You should find out.
As a reporter, Collins was trying to get more from the person she was questioning, so opinions will differ about the aptness of Leavitt's riposte — You're a reporter. You should find out. I would say though that of course there's evidence that Biden wasn't aware of what he was signing. Evidence is anything that makes a fact in issue more (or less) likely. The use of the auto-pen is evidence that Biden didn't know what was signed. And any evidence of Biden's mental decline is evidence that he didn't know. The word "evidence" is routinely misused.
Also routinely misused is "begging the question." It's so rarely used correctly that it's best never to use it. Either you'll use it incorrectly — as Leavitt did (to mean "raising the question") — or you'll use it correctly and no one will understand what you mean because they only know the wrong meaning. At some point, the wrong meaning becomes the right meaning, but we don't need this phrase or the confusion we must endure on the way to this resolution of the problem. Just say "raising the question."
Posts
134 comments:
Q the leftist Sludge gossip.
I don't care at all about the age gap. This girl rocks.
Karoline is super smart... and she makes the last press secretary look terrible in comparison. Karoline doesn't need a binder filled with approved prog-narratives and prog-talking points... created for her by the puppet masters of the corrupt left.
Kaitlin Collins… she of the Resting CeeUNextTuesday Face.
Hey! Who’s the reporter here!
Begging the question takes its place with Gilding the Lily.
Yes, "begging the question" as Leavitt used it is fingernails on a blackboard to me. And now, the inevitable entry of the overused erroneous definition into dictionaries is occurring. So irksome.
"Karoline Leavitt, 27, Addresses Her 'Atypical' 32-Year Age Gap with Husband, Nicholas Riccio, 59"
Cue the age gap nazis in 3...2...1...
People misuse "begs the question" because "begs" has an unusual (for modern speakers) use in the phrase, namely "to evade".
Iman said, "Kaitlin Collins… she of the Resting CeeUNextTuesday Face."
Begging the question Kaitlin, are you a man?
Begging another question Kaitlin, are you constipated?
Ann said...
"The use of the auto-pen is evidence that Biden didn't know what was signed. And any evidence of Biden's mental decline is evidence that he didn't know. The word "evidence" is routinely misused. "
Excellent.
Yes ...The word "evidence" is often misused.
If Leavitt was 15 when the relationship with her husband began, then it's a story. Having that sort of age difference is unusual, but it doesn't tell us anything that matters about her performance as press secretary. We know of a couple that married in 1983. The groom was born in 1930 and the bride was born in 1958. They will celebrate their 42nd wedding anniversary in June.
"At some point, the wrong meaning becomes the right meaning"
Hey, I could care less.
Yes, "begging the question" as Leavitt used it is fingernails on a blackboard to me.
I could care less.
At some point, the wrong meaning becomes the right meaning, but we don't need this phrase or the confusion we must endure on the way to this resolution of the problem
...last I can recall killing off one of these is the golf term dormie, which correctly means a side is as many holes 'up' as there are holes left to play. Golfers twisted it to mean as many holes 'down' as left to play. The USGA and R&A gave up trying to educate on the correct meaning and decided to kill it. RIP, dormie. Begging the question will be along shortly...
...expect many perverted utterances from Hawaiian judges to follow...
At this point they're not afoul of the half plus seven rule but when did they start?
You saw this deliberate misunderstanding about the auto-pen issue in yesterday's comments by Earnest Prole. While many of the commenters do believe a President should use his own hand to sign official documents, not a single one of us really questioned the issue on this alone or even as the major part of the problem. The real issue raised was in questioning whether Biden was actually the one directing the signing of the documents which is a legitimate question given his obvious lack of mental competence.
Unless they can find someone on his staff to testify that there was fraudulent use of the autopen - which is extremely unlikely to happen - all of this is an exercise in futility. All that needs to be done to make the issue go away is for Biden to verify that he authorized every one of those autopen pardons. And all that needs to be done to accomplish that is to place a carefully composed written declaration to that effect in front of him, hand him a pen, and say, "Sign this, Joe, and you get big ice cream cone."
As I noted on yesterday’s post, the Supreme Court recently reaffirmed (in the Trump immunity ruling) that in the exercise of core Article II powers such as pardons, “courts cannot examine the president’s actions.” So if Biden’s actions are to be scrutinized it will have to be by the press, and good luck with that.
Let's see; my grandfather was 29 when he married my 18 year old grandmother, their first child came along about 6.6 months later. They stayed married until grandpa died and had 13 more kids. Sometimes age gap isn't that big of a deal.
@Mr. D, you would not believe the histrionics even a 5 year age gap causes these days. A 30ish man dating a 19 year old woman can get the cops called. It's unreal how much people - especially women - stick their noses in business that's not theirs.
The Democrats biggest and most costly mistake was trying to murder Donald Trump and failing to get the job done.
Had they succeeded, imagine what our country would be doing right now and imagine all the fraud and illegal corruption that would never have been uncovered.
They succeeded in murdering Lincoln and JFK (and in JFK's case, covering it up for all this time). But they missed Trump twice. He has just his remaining 4 years to ensure that there is no Democrat Party ever again left the murder a US President.
The Democrat Party must be ended. For all time.
"you're a reporter... you should find out."
That to me is a good answer, too. Karoline is pointing out the fact that Democrat Party operative reporters lack all intellectual curiosity. "Without Evidence!" is their go-to BS marker.
Thank you so much for raising the "begging the question" issue. I routinely want to tear my hair out, but that might be begging the question of whether I have hair.
Prole said/quoted.
“courts cannot examine the president’s actions.”
The courts are attempting to stop Trump from deporting illegals... Also the courts are attempting to stop Trump and his team from cutting waste and fraud.
Biden pardoned Fauci. That is an astonishing thing.
An investigation into the use of auto-pen and Evil Fauci should occur anyway.
Justice! (lol - the left don't care at all about actual justice)
...it seems like only yesterday discussions of the 25th Amendment were ridiculous partisan bullcarp. How times have changed...
Chinese women used to give birth while marching. That was a statistical fact of some sort, reflecting a high birth rate and endless marching lines. Probably before one child limitation.
>FormerLawClerk said...
But they missed Trump twice. He has just his remaining 4 years to ensure that there is no Democrat Party ever again<
Yeah, 4 years...unless one of their inevitably forthcoming attempts is finally successful.
“courts cannot examine the president’s actions.”
And how exactly do we know this was the president's actions and not the actions of his chief of staff? Like Ice Nine above, I think this is a fruitless pursuit since one won't find any admission from anyone in Biden's administration that things were being done behind the boss' back because his brains had turned into shit, but this should be a question that a court could weigh in on since those constitutional powers can only be used by the president.
Let's see; my grandfather was 29 when he married my 18 year old grandmother, their first child came along about 6.6 months later.
Typo, that should read 6.5 months. I should also mention that even though grandma outlived grandpa by 30 years she never remarried or "kept company" with another man.
As a reporter, Collins was trying to get more from the person she was questioning, so opinions will differ about the aptness of Leavitt's riposte
...perhaps the time has arrived to have a national conversation about the meaning of the word reporter...
tcrosse said...
“I could care less.”
Literally laughing my ass off.
The press avoiding performing the most basic component of their job - investigative reporting - is like fingernails on a blackboard to me.
...perhaps the time has arrived to have a national conversation about the meaning of the word reporter...
I don't know, the word "cocksucker" is already overused.
For you commenters who discern an IQ of 103 to anybody who questions the authentic of the pardons: notice that you are distracted by the shiny word "autopen" and are ignoring the possibility of any doubt that a senile old man could have been kept in the dark while staffers operated it.
AA. "Evidence is anything that makes a fact in issue more (or less) likely." Justice Cassel wrote the same thing in my In re Estate of Walker case.
This woman will be in the Senate. Super impressive.
With Leavitt there's really nothing else to attack...
For the constitutionally illiterate, there are a tiny number of absolute powers reserved only for the president; pardons are one of them, and virtually everything else is negotiable and reviewable.
Neera Tannen (a hardcore lefty) was using an autopen to sign pardons when Biden was playing golf.
Alas, the battle over "begging the question" is almost as futile as the one over "who-whom." The one that irks me the most now is the conflation of "collapse" with "implode." THEY ARE NOT SYNONYMS!!!
I think DOJ should file a declaratory judgment re: Fauci's pardon. Make that corrupt (and rich) asshole sweat.
"ourts cannot examine the president’s actions..."
This begs the question, doesn't it. Are these autopen signed pardons really actions of the president? Or were they done by staff without even consulting him?
Take about a 103 IQ.
...all of this is an exercise in futility..
...there's still the matter of about 20 percent of the electorate bitterly clinging to these pig lovers...
Riccio looks about fifteen years younger than his age.
People misuse "begs the question" because "begs" has an unusual (for modern speakers) use in the phrase, namely "to evade".
I was taught that "assumes the truthfulness of the point being argued" (i.e. circular reasoning) is more accurate than "evading" for what "begs" does in the old saying. That's why formulating correct examples is difficult.
If this is wrong, then Althouse's suggestion of retiring the phrase is probably the best course.
After seeing the most recent beach pictures of Bill Belichick and his 24 year old girlfriend...spare me. They are both adults. Their life, not my problem...
Are these autopen signed pardons really actions of the president? Or were they done by staff without even consulting him?
Let us know when you find out.
One way for a woman to resolve or, at least, work around "Daddy issues" is to find an older man who indulges her like a beloved daughter. Such a solution works best for really cute girls and really rich older men. It should be noted, however, that such a solution is problematic if the man's prostate problems and the woman's thirties overlap. Still, in an imperfect world, it's a way forward.
With Trump the MSM is happy to run with every accusation and paper thin charge, but when covering Democrats they want evidence. Fuck off, Kaitlin.
Leavitt comes across as a happy warrior, which enhances her appeal.
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...
“Let's see; my grandfather was 29 when he married my 18 year old grandmother, their first child came along about 6.6 months later. They stayed married until grandpa died and had 13 more kids.”
Quite an impressive feat to have all those kids after death.
Part of the misunderstanding is that "begging the question" has nothing to do with questions at all. It is a logical term for argument and debate.
I'm sure that Biden was aware that he was pardoning Hunter. Perhaps the mental lapse was when he said that he would never pardon Hunter. He had a senior moment and confused Hunter with Hunter Thompson.
Leavitt misgendered the assembled Democrat Party propagandists. They aren't reporters, they don't report the facts, they don't even call themselves reporters. They call themselves "journalists", and they use journOlists in order to hide the facts from the public.
“If this is wrong, then Althouse's suggestion of retiring the phrase is probably the best course.”
Here at Meadhouse we have currently replaced “begs the question” with “Dave Begleys the question.”
“They are both adults. Their life, not my problem...”
…or, not my circus… not my monkeys.
With affection. 😂
"Chinese women used to give birth while marching."
Vigorous walking (if you can) is excellent for advancing labor. At some point, though, a baby and an umbilical cord come into play. These Chinese women may not have taken as much time for rest as Leavitt did, but they definitely stepped out of line and at least sat down long enough to nurse the baby and tie off the cord.
“Evidence is anything that makes a fact in issue more (or less) likely.”
Yes, this is today’s golden nugget. Journalists incorrectly use the term evidence to mean an undeniable truth which proves a point beyond any reasonable doubt.
"Let us know when you find out."
So your take is that it's perfectly OK that whoever has access to the autopen is effectively the president of the United States and no action signed off by the person pushing the button may ever be questioned. OK. At least you are honest about it now.
Meade said, “Dave Begleys the question.”
To Begley or not to Begley the question. Whether 'tis nobler in the query to suffer knowledgeable responses of immediate riposte, or to take umbrage against wrong usage and "raise" questions, not Begley them.
Speaker Johnson reported Biden was surprised that he had the facts grossly wrong about the LNG exports EO that he had "signed." Was Biden misremembering what he'd done weeks or months before, or did his staff deceive him? Heads should roll, but they won't.
Biden pardoned criminals, democrat party grifters, Fauci, Jan 6th investigator frauds, Fauci and his own family.
That alone should make democrats lose forever.
"I could care less" is just the sarcastic version of "I couldn't care less." It's like saying "as if I could care less."
"Raises the question" or "avoids the question" I will stop using "begs the question" because it just confuses 90% of the readers.
It's like that sentence Althouse challenged us to diagram. I used to think that long sentences like that were great, festooned with clauses, where meaning was to be found in the chewy nougat center, when I realized that the first time I read it, I just accepted its premise, but when I read it more carefully, I realized that it was completely illogical. At that point it became clear to me that the charming complexity of it simply obfuscated the logic it contained.
RSM: “ To Begley or not to Begley”
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare Begley?
JSM
"Chinese women used to give birth while marching."
Can confirm this did occur during The Long March, though rarely. Children born during the retreat were usually left in the care of local villages passed along the way, but this was usually offset by the number of young and pregnant women that were acquired from the same villages being passed.
The Long March is unique in military history for being among the few strategic withdrawals where the retreating force ended up with more people at the end of it than they did at the beginning.
The prestige press is really over and done when Althouse links to People magazine.
We established yesterday it’s perfectly legal for a staff member to act on the president’s behalf. Unless someone is alleging Biden was opposed to the pardons he issued, I don’t understand all the fuss.
"I could care less" is perfectly fine. It's idiomatic English, which by definition does not have to be purely logical. "I could care less, but it would be quite a trick" or whatever, is implied. But my grammar checker, not being a human native speaker of English, wants me to change it. Too bad.
“Yes, "begging the question" as Leavitt used it is fingernails on a blackboard to me.”
‘I could care less.’
Literally laughing my ass off.
Hey, that's awful!
Earnest Prole said, "We established yesterday it’s perfectly legal for a staff member to act on the president’s behalf. Unless someone is alleging Biden was opposed to the pardons he issued, I don’t understand all the fuss."
We also established the issue is whether or not Biden even A) provided such direction to anybody and B) even knew what was going on. Presidential power isn't valid if it's not the president wielding it.
Biden is a vegetable.
Spiros said...
“Riccio looks about fifteen years younger than his age.”
Ageless Mediterranean looks.
There’s a black and white picture of a woman sitting on the balls of her feet playing with my dad, who’s about 4 years old. At first glance she appears to be a blond woman about 30 years old playing with her son; but is actually a grey-haired 65 year old playing with her grandson. And from other pictures she went grey not too many years before the picture was taken.
With Speaker Johnson on camera saying Biden didn't know about signing the EO about natural gas, the DOJ should immediately begin an investigation into all of Bidens signings. There are forensic signature experts used in court cases everywhere.
"staff member to act on the president’s behalf."
Well that's the question, isn't it. Did the member act on the president's behalf, or somebody else's?
And the second little sleight of hand you put in there was "opposes" There were many thousands of pardons issued, some very specific.
For instance, did Joe Biden know that Fauci's pardon was specifically extended to the decision he made to step around the "gain of function" ban by Congress by redefining terms and by judging that the coronavirus research, which killed millions, and which will go on killing people, probably forever, was "not that dangerous" and that he was specifically pardoning that crime?
"Well he didn't say he wasn't" is quite a legal standard for justifying the pardon of the crime of mass murder.
Democrats know which corrupt judges to use when they want a crazy unconstitutional order like Boasberg issued. Just like all the judges involved in Trump lawfare previously (and yes Boasberg was one of those too) this judge has huge conflict of interest in his immediate family. His daughter Katharine Boasberg works for a 501c3 called “Partners For Justice”
@PFJ_USA that gives criminal illegal aliens and gang members legal advice. Now she's scrubbed her LinkedIn profile and gone dark.
But these cockroaches are pretty freaking bold until the light is shined on them. Are there NO judges appointed by Democrats who are not tied to the NGO trough and the gusher of money Progressives keep spending to ruin this country?
Biden pardoned criminals, democrat party grifters, Fauci, Jan 6th investigator frauds, Fauci and his own family.
This prompts a memory I have of Biden insisting that they were all non-violent, something subsequent reporting completely disputed given at least one child murderer was pardoned (for a different crime) and let out. Old Joe had a lot of ideas about his own work that were just not aligned well with reality.
Like Dave, I think Neera Tanden is quite involved, and she also has the distinction of being appointed to her "advisor" role after failing to get consent of the Senate for what Biden tried to appoint her to. Just being an old Clinton associate and a nasty piece of work disqualified her. NOT for Biden!
We established yesterday it’s perfectly legal for a staff member to act on the president’s behalf.
Again, that begs the question of whether Biden was aware and approved. We have plenty of evidence that he was misinformed about laws that were signed in his name. And I just gave an example of him commenting on pardons in a way that suggests he was unaware exactly who he had pardoned. And you have yet to deal with the Constitutional requirement he be present, which is difficult to be when golfing on St. Croix at the same time pardons are being signed in DC.
If Joe said that all of his pardons were for "non violent" crimes, then it looks like any crimes involving violence were not legally pardoned, according to the standard proposed by EP. I am thinking that actions leading to the death of millions, like what Fauci did to get around Congress's ban on gain of function research is a violent crime, or the term has no meaning.
An age gap, AND premarital sex! Someone should investigate her husband--what do you want to bet he has had sex with others, and may even have been married before?
Poor girl.
Seems to me any act by a public official or agency must be done in a way that can be clearly and easily demonstrated to have been legal and proper. Procedures must be in place and records must be kept for this purpose.
Since when is it incumbent on the press or the public to prove a negative, I.E. Biden didn't understand what was going on. The Biden Administration owes it to the public to show that they did things right. They also owe the public an explanation for why the Autopen was used every single time it was used and an answer to the question, why was it used so many times by Biden, especially since he was having obvious, serious problems with his gourd at the time.
This is like the election fraud situation. We're now told that elections must be assumed to be legit unless it can be proved otherwise in a really short time by people who don't have access to the process. No. The doings of public officials is not the same as a criminal case where there is a presumption of innocence. Public officials need to prove they are doing things legally and properly all the time. That is part of their job.
Getting whiplash from the last 2 paragraphs of this post.
The final paragraph, I couldn't agree more with it.
The penultimate paragraph, I feel dumber for having read it.
Well that's the question, isn't it.
Sure. And since the question is beyond the reach of courts, it falls to us to grouse about it.
"A 30ish man dating a 19 year old woman can get the cops called."
I believe the cause of this is that a lot of influential women are putting off marriage and children until they hit their 30s and that puts them at a serious disadvantage with young women when competing for men. Guys in their 30s that can attract younger women will tend to date them. So older women work at making doing so a social taboo.
However, I'm surprised nobody has noted that the article in People Magazine about the Whitehouse press secretary who works for Donald Trump was positive in nature. That's significant because that means that People Magazine recognizes that its audience is pro-Trump.
And a quick google search shows that it has the largest audience in the US by far for a magazine, reaching over 94 million people a month. AARP and Allrecipes are second and third with reaches of over 50 million.
The Democrats are cooked.
Karoline is one of the most impressive press secretaries I've seen. Sharp as a tack with a friendly down to earth manner and very easy on the eyes.
She reminds me of Andrew Breitbart, a happy warrior.
Begging the question: "The argument doesn't provide any real evidence or justification; it simply restates the conclusion in a different way, making it seem like it's been proven when it hasn't."
New Topic. The MSM reporters debating response to Leavitt's comeback should be used by Trump in the future. "Oh you want proof? My intent is on the record. Case Closed".
MSM reporters don't need no proof when it hurts the Democrats. Whatever the Ds say is OK. Case closed. No need for followup or anymore reporting. Joe biden says he's A-OK, no need to investigate, just mark it down as "The truth" and move on. Just like Hunter's laptop.
Age gap with husband
Enquiring minds want to know
How is their sex life?
"And since the question is beyond the reach of courts"
I guess we will find out if it's beyond the reach of the courts. Nothing else a president does seems to be.
As for expressions that make no sense, of course I can "have my cake and eat it too," just like I can buy a car and drive it too. What I can't do is "eat my cake and have it too" anymore than I can get rid of my car and drive it too. But the world seems to accept the original formulation while complaining about "could care less."
"Literally laughing my ass off."
It was one of those low-IQ judges, circuit court this time, who allowed Rachel Maddow to escape a defamation lawsuit by redefining literally (even if emphasized with really) to mean not literally. Therefore, by judicial fiat not literally means literally.
ron winkleheimer said, "I believe the cause of this is that a lot of influential women are putting off marriage and children until they hit their 30s and that puts them at a serious disadvantage with young women when competing for men. Guys in their 30s that can attract younger women will tend to date them. So older women work at making doing so a social taboo."
It has affected me personally. The age gap between my wife and I is 13 years. In no other country I travel to is this an issue outside of the USA, Canada, and certain countries in Western Europe. I have never had the cops called, but I have encountered more than one incident of people making our relationship they're business.
One memorable incident involved a car filled with a bunch of what I assume were 20-something girls slowing down beside us in a mall parking lot to shout "she's too young for you rapist" before speeding off. And this crap only happens when our children aren't with us.
Bob Boyd said...
.”They also owe the public an explanation for why the Autopen was used every single time it was used and an answer to the question, why was it used so many times by Biden, especially since he was having obvious, serious problems with his gourd at the time.”
Speaking of the Gourds, Sleeping Crooked Joe and his Hunter homie may have been preoccupied with their mind on their money and their money on their mind:
https://open.spotify.com/track/6CeszonFOlgp7HiawTSqCu?si=_OzvuAIRQjWPrHNw6mmH6w&context=spotify%3Aartist%3A2gk28RNJaPStV8BnugHYpF
Ann Althouse said...Also routinely misused is "begging the question."
Irregardless is another one.
I love her, but the traditionalist in me wishes she married before the bun was in the oven.
I will stop using "begs the question" because it just confuses 90% of the readers.
The problem is that the correct usage has little or nothing to do with a "question." It simply refers to an argument that assumes the conclusion, or restates it in a different way, rather than providing a basis or evidence for it. "I dislike rap music because it's disagreeable." As opposed to "I dislike rap music because of its foul language and lack of melodies."
She can conceive, birth, and hold a press conference, too. You've come a long way, baby, and mommy, too. Oh, congratulations to mom and dad.
"Begging the question" has been disposed of. Now let's do "carrots and sticks. (Should be carrot on a stick. The current version is wholly fabricated.)
Earnest Prole said...
As I noted on yesterday’s post, the Supreme Court recently reaffirmed (in the Trump immunity ruling) that in the exercise of core Article II powers such as pardons, “courts cannot examine the president’s actions.” So if Biden’s actions are to be scrutinized it will have to be by the press, and good luck with that.
I believe the actual decision stated "lawful actions". If Biden's signature was affixed without his knowledge or affirmative declaration, then there is a question of legality. There is evidence of his mental incapacity and "leaked" concerns that he wasn't aware of what was signed.
Anyone who caused the autopen to be used without the authorization of the actual President can be charged with fraud under USC § 371, as interpreted in Haas, Hammerschmidt, and Madeoy.
Commenters should also reign in there use of "tow the line".
"Commenters should also reign in there use of "tow the line".
Here, here !
Is it tow or toe?
Biden clearly could sign his own name. Then why the auto pen?
You might want to avoid saying "eat my cake and have it too", even though it's more logical. That very language was one of the clues that helped the Unabomber's brother identify him as the author of the published manifesto, and therefore a terrorist murderer as well.
Bob Boyd, “ Age gap with husband
Enquiring minds want to know
How is their sex life?”
He’s jumping her bones every night.
But isn’t this actually a correct usage of begging the question?
Trump, by issuing his declaration that Biden’s pardons are null and void, is begging the question of whether Joe was aware of what is being done in his name.
"The expression is "toe the line", meaning literally to stand with one's toes behind a line, that is, to conform. The misspelled form "tow the line" comes from a misinterpretation of "line" as being a rope or cord."
The reporter could just ask Joe about the matter.
Re the press secretary and incorrect use of begging the question: she decimated her questioner. Absolutely decimated her questioner. Yep, decimated her.
This autopen scandal harkens back to early Medieval times when monarchs were sometimes illiterate and a seal stood in for a signature. What's interesting is the fact that in England, if nowhere else, the seal that gave documents the status of law was not held in the physical possession of the monarch nor is it even today. That sinecure belongs to the Lord Chancellor. I have often wondered why. Was it instituted as a final check on arbitrary power? Those powers beneath the king recognized that the monarch's signature wasn't consistently the same, and it was vulnerable to forgery. The Great Seal of the Realm was certainly more consistent and more difficult to counterfeit, though there was no technical protection from its being used illegitimately. Alleged illegitimate use of the Great Seal touched off the Wars of the Roses. Margaret of Anjou frequently applied the Great Seal to documents when her husband, Henry VI, was essentially catatonic, often to the material benefit of Lancastrian barons. The Yorkist objected and took up arms. The key to the legitimate use of the Great Seal, at least when English monarchs were truly monarchical, is the Seal in the hand of the king, awake, sober, and cognizant.
The lefty press are emphasizing the autopen aspect, and countering Trump by the fact that many Presidents, beginning with Truman used an autopen machine. Unfortunately for the Democrats, the press, and those pardon beneficiaries, Trump's question is not the fact that Biden's hand did not hold the pen that authorized those pardon documents, rather was he cognizant of those uses of his signature? Was in the room when the autopen did its work? Was he even in the country? Since taking office as the 47th POTUS, Trump has been photographed and videoed dozens, perhaps hundreds of times signing Executive Orders, so there's no reasonable doubt those orders are his own, and not a faceless staffer taking advantage of an addled hulk of a man.
O.T. I thought it would be interesting to examine the signatures of recent Chief Executives that have been replicated via autopen.
Here's Barack Obama's. Looks absurdly Hollywood to me, like a movie star's autograph with that gigantic O nearly enclosing the _bama portion. It also strikes me as fundamentally feminine with that ballooned-out heart-shaped B.
In stark contrast we have Donald Trump's hyper-masculine seal. His letters, all of them, look like teeth in the jaws of a ravenous predator. Chuck Schumer's head ought to be impaled on one of those points.
Lastly, we have Joe Biden's mark. Insipid overall. There's nothing distinctive other than his refusal to make a J.
What Rabel just said. Has anyone asked Biden for comment? And if not, why not? Has Biden uttered a word about anything publicly since the inauguration?
Thanks Quaestor for the signature examples- fascinating.
Here's Abe Lincoln's, or more correctly, one of many. There was no autopen in his day, though he could have used a polygraph (not the "lie detector"), Thomas Jefferson's invention to duplicate documents. What I see is an expression of good penmanship, something utterly neglected today. Most American's under twenty can't even read cursive, let alone use it. Legible signatures have devolved into a scrawl. The only thing distinctive about Lincoln's autograph is the two little jots after the A, and they're not always evident in the hundreds of examples we have, just most of them. One could be the full stop after the A, but what is the other? Lincoln being playful?
We need more playful signatures. Here's Oliver Cromwell's, a man not noted for his playfulness. Nevertheless, he could be. After signing Charles I's death warrant, he flicked ink at his fellow Parliamentarians. I like his C, the way it grows from the preceding r and loops gently around the proceeding r and o.
age does not matter
giving as good as you get
dat is what matters!
"Trump, by issuing his declaration that Biden’s pardons are null and void, is begging the question of whether Joe was aware of what is being done in his name."
Nope, that's not question begging. He is *raising* the question, for an example of question begging, you can look at many of Earnest Prole's comments in this thread.
"That very language was one of the clues that helped the Unabomber's brother identify him as the author of the published "
He did have a notoriously high IQ.
I haven't noticed, but has Joe Biden himself attested to his personal authorization of the use of that autopen machine in granting those pardons? Is he too far gone to know or care? Or is he lying low on the advice of counsel? Signing an official document may be something a President cannot lawfully delegate to anyone else, even if it's someone else's finger on the autopen ON switch.
Nope, that's not question begging. He is *raising* the question, for an example of question begging, you can look at many of Earnest Prole's comments in this thread.
Thanks for responding, but to me, it seems like it could be interpreted as a form of assuming the conclusion.
My father's signature was distinctive and uncannily consistent. He didn't own an autopen, yet examples of his seal looks so precisely similar that someone might wonder. However, I watched him endorse things many times. To be consistent, he would "warm up" with five or six tries on a blank sheet before making the one that counts on the dotted line. The blank sheet was torn to bits afterwards.
One more point regarding CNN's reportage of autopen usage by Truman, Kennedy, and others -- Presidents have an overwhelming burden of correspondence, letters to constituents, letters to campaign donors, letters to foreign dignitaries, letters to noisome idiots like me. An autopen would come in handy when dealing with some of that burden. I get about dozen such letters each week in my actual metallic mailbox outside my front door (and several hundred in my email) Most of these bear a signature, but I'm sure that nothing as personal as an autopen was involved, but none of that bears any legal weight.
If CNN really wants to defend Biden's indefensible pardons, then they need to unequivocally cite an example of a President other than Biden signing legislation into law without a physical pen in his physical grasp applied to the physical paper. I have no expectation that they can meet those conditions.
IMO any official document signed with an autopen should be null and void unless there are legal established procedures that allow for it. I see none in the constitution.
I remember Pedo Pete signing EOs like a zombie just days into his term.
Another "without evidence" or "baseless" item - when KJP accidentally posted a tweet as Biden.
Even if Biden himself signed a document, with pen in hand, it is still open to question whether he was mentally competent to do so.
Now it's been revealed that Neera Tanden, a hard left Democrat ideologue and activist and very partisan, who couldn't get confirmed even by the Democrat controlled Senate in Biden's early days, was a senior appointed aide. I'd direct my questions at her. She might have run some of the signings by Biden, but towards the end I doubt if she bothered or cared. Question her. Sub poena her bank accounts and those she's connected with.
"The word "evidence" is routinely misused."
If I had a dollar for every time I read the claim "without evidence" when the author is discussing, well, evidence, I'd be a rich man.
For those late to the party, yesterday I posted the U.S. Department of Justice’s summary of its 30-page statement on whether staff may sign documents on the President’s behalf:
Whether the President May Sign a Bill by Directing That His Signature Be Affixed to It
Date of Issuance: July 7, 2005
The President need not personally perform the physical act of affixing his signature to a bill he approves and decides to sign in order for the bill to become law. Rather, the President may sign a bill within the meaning of Article I, Section 7 by directing a subordinate to affix the President’s signature to such a bill, for example by autopen.
"Rather, the President may sign a bill within the meaning of Article I, Section 7 by directing a subordinate to affix the President’s signature to such a bill, for example by autopen." (emphasis added)
That's really the bone of contention, isn't it?
Is there precedent for use of autopen to sign legal weighty documents?
I had impression using for greeting cards and donations begging
I don't know if it's still a thing, but after my father's death in 1962, my mother got a letter on White House letterhead, signed by John F. Kennedy, expressing condolences at the passing of the decorated former pilot.
That was when I learned about autopen signatures.
Yes, the statement cited by Earnest Prole does exist. No, the statement does not settle the issue. U.S. Department of Justice is not empowered to interpret the Constitution.
So there's no "chain of custody" or paper trail needed to use an autopen? Are we to assume that Jill Biden never made a policy decision. She never authorized the "signature" to any documents ever?
The biggest scandal ever and the press, the "law dogs", nor the "we have principles" people are uninterested.
A 22% approval is too damn high.
I'm with Quaestor here: that's a bullshit opinion. I think a better reading is that when the Constitution says signing, it means just that, and not a mechanical facsimile.
Post a Comment
Comments older than 2 days are always moderated. Newer comments may be unmoderated, but are still subject to a spam filter and may take a few hours to get released. Thanks for your contributions and your patience.